Hurricanes in the South

Oh the lovely joys of living on the gulf coast in the summer time. We southern souls brave not only love bugs, mosquitoes, gnats, alligators and extreme humidity, we also brave the savage winds, rains and destruction of hurricanes.

It use to be that hurricanes were just part of living in such a wonderful beautiful place. The weather people warned you they were coming and you did the necessary things to prepare like putting gas in vehicles, buying a few extra groceries, taping or boarding up windows and hunkering down till it passed. Nowadays hurricanes cause great panic and tend to bring out the stupid in some people. The mere mention of the words hurricane and gulf in the same sentence at 8am will cause a shortage of gas and groceries by 6pm in Pensacola. Hurricane season starts the same day every year, but people ALWAYS wait till last minutes and there is one baring down on them to buy supplies. It's mass confusion and stupidity I tell ya!!

It is a given fact that once a hurricane is in the Gulf of Mexico it has to hit land somewhere. There is no other way out. Each and every hurricane is different from the others in the past. No two are alike. As with every hurricane, you will have those hard-headed stubborn people that will stay behind to protect what they have. They have ridden out so many before, what's one more. If you have ever been in evacuation traffic you can understand why some refuse to leave. The best you can do is pray for them and try to not judge them for being hard-headed and stubborn. Yes, I am guilty of being one of the stupid, stubborn, hard-headed people living along the gulf coast during hurricane season. It's a lot easier to prepare for a hurricane than it is for a tornado or earthquake that give very little warning, if any at all, before they hit.

At the time of this writing, Hurricane Ike has just devastated the northeastern coast of Texas. The reports are still coming in. I am grateful my family living there are all safe. One's house is ok, but the other three are under several feet of water. Life is forever changed for them.

But there was good news in the wake of Ike: A stranded freighter with 22 men aboard made it through the storm safely, and a tugboat was on the way to save them.

And an evacuee from Calhoun County gave birth to a girl in the restroom of a shelter with the aid of an expert in geriatric psychiatry who delivered his first baby in two decades. She named the baby Katrina.

In Surfside Beach, retired carpenter and former Marine Ray Wilkinson became something of a celebrity for a day: He was the lone resident in the town of 805 to defy the order to leave. Authorities found him Saturday morning, drunk. "I consider myself to be stupid," Wilkinson, 67, said through a thick, tobacco-stained beard. "I'm just tired of running from these things. If it's going to get you, it's going to get you." He added: "I didn't say I had all my marbles, OK?"

Hurricane season 2008 is far from over. We still have several more weeks left. Please continue to pray for those who have been affected by hurricanes this year and in most recent years.